ABOUT US

About Us

MEDIA RECORDS

Media Records was born by the end of 1987 from a Gianfranco Bortolotti idea, a label that was immediately well known thanks to Cappella and 49ers names that together with Club House created a strong connection ready to be the first in charts worldwide, forwarded by amazing successful artists, tracks and concepts such as Heartbeat, the first Italian House labelsupervised by DJS.

This concept will be repeated in 1995 with other music genres like Trance and Technoor with BXR, thatimposed its sound upon all others world indipendent labelsthanks to the collaboration with Mauro Picotto and Gigi D’Agostino.

During the beginning of the year2K he launches Trance music thanks to Tiësto, Armin Van Buuren e Ferry Corsten.

GIANFRANCO BORTOLOTTI

One of dance music’s most colourful ambassadors in the golden period of the late 80s and early 90s, Gianfranco Bortolotti was the name behind many ‘Italo-house’ classics as manager and as producer of Media Records.

Gianfranco Bortolotti had originally found himself in the DJ world to supplement his university days. He was initially influenced by some friends learning his craft from them, and when the latter’s career began, actually helped in distributing records. His involvement grew until he too recouped the rewards of a couple of minor hit singles, reinvesting the money in a home studio and founding the Media Records label.

The success of Media allowed Gianfranco Bortolotti to invest in no less than 15 studios – the main complex in Brescia, North Italy, was built on the Motown Records principle, churning out hits at a rate other factories ship beans. Cappella’s breakthrough hit, ‘Heylom Halib’, introduced the insistent rhythms, zany samples, tinkling piano and memorable choruses and catch phrases that, nowadays, still are the main ingredients of the so claimed EDM.

Media continued to release a unabated flow of hits through acts such as the 49ers (‘Touch Me’), Fargetta, East Side Beat, Clubhouse, Clock, DJ Professor and RAF.

Last but not least, Gianfranco was the first to build the “DJs record company”, as a matter of fact to believe and invest on italian and international djs foreseeing for them a future as real rock stars. Just as Berry Gordy might have envisioned had he enjoyed access to the technology, the Media set-up ran along strictly businesslike lines, with three main producers under Gianfranco direct control (DJ Professor, Gigi D’Agostino and Mauro Picotto) working on their own floor. Each record was mixed between 15 and 20 times to suit individual territories, an astoundingly efficient and economic approach to make music.

Media Records was also the first and the only company that provides, since 1993, its own Mastering Studio exclusively dedicated to its own productions.